By Steve Bigham

The Newtown High School boys’ basketball team ended its season March 7 with a disappointing first round CIAC state tournament loss at Masuk in Monroe. In fact, the Nighthawks closed out the season with three straight defeats.

However, the so-so ending to the season can not overshadow the fact that the 1999-2000 club put together one of the most impressive late-season runs in school hoops history. With its back to the wall, Newtown rallied to win eight of its last 10 games to qualify for the South West Conference (SWC) playoffs.

An exciting double overtime win at Weston February 18 vaulted NHS into the postseason. There, seeded eighth, it lost to top-seeded Notre Dame of Fairfield in a game that remained undecided up until the final minute.

Newtown, which finished 11-11, opened the season with three-straight losses to state powers Kolbe Cathedral, Warren Harding and Bloomfield. After the Kolbe loss, an extremely tight battle, some were calling Newtown the best 0-3 team in the state. Of course, they were only half serious, but there were a lot of signs indicating that Coach John Quinn’s club was on the verge of something special.

The Nighthawks were impressive in defeating New Fairfield and Staples to capture their own holiday tournament, but then suffered three-straight losses to Pomperaug, Immaculate and Stratford. After another win over New Fairfield, Newtown fell in overtime to Notre Dame. Suddenly, the best 0-3 team in the state was 3-7. The playoffs seemed a long way away.

After pounding New Milford, one of the league’s worst teams in history, Newtown beat Masuk, lost to Immaculate, then pulled off wins over Brookfield, Bunnell, Bethel, Jonathan Law, Joel Barlow and Weston.

“We set a challenge in front of the kids and they stepped up to it,” Quinn said. “Winning eight out of 10 the way we did would have to be the highlight of the season. We played some very good games – close games that we ended up winning.”

But Newtown lost its season finale at Foran, dropping it from a potential six seed in the tournament to an eighth seed. And Notre Dame was clearly the class of the league.

The Nighthawks didn’t lose much sleep over the loss to Notre Dame in the SWCs, but this week Quinn said he was still stinging from the Masuk loss. The frustrating setback was a “microcosm” of the entire season.

“Going into it, I would have projected three or four more wins above 11-11. But I certainly can’t complain about the team’s efforts. The league is tough,” Quinn said. “Disappointment is probably too strong a word, but maybe it’s not. Coming into the year, we set a very difficult schedule with the intent of getting better as the season went along. I think we got better, but we did not get some of the wins we wanted.

Quinn, now with two seasons under his belt, loses five seniors to graduation, including 6-5 center Courtney Steele, who leaves as the school’s fifth all-time leading scorer with 859 points. Steele was a three-year starter who showed flashes of brilliance toward the end of this season. Next year, he plans to play at St Thomas Moore Academy, a prep school in Colchester, CT. The school has produced a myriad of Division I stars, including Ed Cota of North Carolina and Adjou Deng of the University of Connecticut. Incidentally, Jerry Quinn - John’s brother, coaches the team.

Also gone is two-year starting guard Rich Engel who always brought the intangibles to the game. A gritty player with tons of heart, Engel often went diving for balls and played nose-to-nose defense. He plans to play soccer in college and is currently looking at Ithaca, Fordham, Colgate and others.

Sharp-shooting Jason Godoy, also a two-year starter, wraps up a season during which he scored 31 points in a single game against Staples. He plans to take his game to Worcester Poly-Tech.

Point guard Bret McEvoy did not play last year, but joined the team this season and quickly made an impact. While not a huge scorer, McEvoy was one of the team’s top defenders and always brought a thinking man’s game to the court. Also a soccer star, he’ll head to Brown University.

Glenn Stiewing missed much of the season with an ankle injury, but is credited by his coach for his work ethic and big heart. Due to his injury, Stiewing did not plan on try out for the team, but Quinn informed the senior that he was welcomed. Stiewing is headed to Southern Connecticut State University next year.

As for next year, there’s plenty of reason for optimism, according to Quinn. Topping the list is junior John Fiscella, who should be considered one of the best returnees in the league. A natural scorer, Fiscella moved into the top 20 list of all-time scorers with 548 total points.

Other returning players will be current juniors point guard Andrew Smith, forward Jeff Wolcott and guard Grant Putnam.

Quinn also has three sophomores who return next year after seeing lots of action this year. Josh Dittmar is a natural scorer who can light it up in a hurry. John Wesley started for much of the second half and should be a top player in the league next year. Also seeing significant action this past year was Ryan Walker.

There is also a strong crop of junior varsity and freshmen players to choose from.

“We’ll have our hands full. That’s a nice problem to have,” Quinn said.

Quinn sports a two-year coaching record of 19-22.